


A Forsaken Heart

by BlacksteelAlchemist



Series: Supernatural [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 01:30:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20770301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlacksteelAlchemist/pseuds/BlacksteelAlchemist
Summary: After a few years of a normal life, Sam's normality is rocked when his girlfriend is killed by a demon, and an old friend, Emily Brooks, whom he believed was dead, appears with his older brother, Dean, and asks him to look for their missing father, John Whinchester.





	1. Pilot

The shaggy haired younger Winchester closed the passenger door of his big brother's prized 1967 Chevrolet Impala, "Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?"  
Dean Winchester shrugged, "Yeah, alright." And Sam, smiled, patting the door twice, as his way of saying "Goodbye" to his older brother. Dean revved the engine, then turned to look out at his baby brother, who was walking away. "Sam, you know we made a Hell of a team back there."  
Sam smiled sadly, and nodded, "Yeah." Knowing that was as good as it was going to get to a touching goodbye, Dean drove off, leaving his brother at the front of his apartment complex.

Now he was looking for a fiery red Mustang, that he knew would probably be waiting around the corner. As soon as he saw it, a smirk appeared across his face, and he shut off his car and went to go see the occupant of the Mustang, his long time friend, Emily Brooks.

"Ya know, being this predictable for a hunter could be a death sentence..." He leaned against the passenger door, before the occupant opened it for him.  
"And being a dick will get you nowhere." The driver said, and flipped her long, dark brown hair out of her face. "I'm glad he chose to come back. But I'm assuming not without you badgering him to go with you. I told you, he wants this. He doesn't want our life. He's gotten out, let him stay out."  
"Em, you know it's not that easy. Dad's missing, he's the only other family I got. And it's not like I could take you off of your job."  
"Doesn't mean you can go and mess up everything for him. He's got a life here. A girlfriend. Grad school options. I.. saw him looking at engagement rings.... Dean... He wants this. More than anything." Emily Brooks, the young, female driver, said.

Just then, the female's dark brown eyes traveled to the younger Winchester's apartment. "Fire." Her eyes went wide.  
She and Dean rushed out of the car running up the stairs to Sam and Jessica's apartment.  
They heard Sam cry out for his lover, as Dean kicked in the door. "SAM!?!" Dean shouted, trying to figure out where his brother was. Emily pushed past him."Bedroom!" She shouted to Dean.

"NO! JESS!" Sam was shielding his face from the fire, and the sight of his girlfriend burning on the ceiling. "NO! NO!"  
Emily and Dean ran in, and grabbed Sam from the bed. "NO! NO!"  
"We've gotta get out of here!"  
"JESS! JESS! NO!" Sam pushed back against the two people pulling him out.

They finally managed to push him out, just before the room exploded into flames.  
Sam was in full panic mode. The moment he realized there was another person there, his face turned from panic, to anger. "Who the Hell are you? Did you do this?"  
"Sam..." Dean was on the other side of Sam. Sam wasn't listening.  
The younger Winchester grabbed the girl by her shoulders, taking her a bit by surprise. He didn't recognize her? That kind of stung. "Answer me!"  
"Sam!" Dean grabbed Sam, and puled him away from her.  
"You really don't recognize me... Do you?" She was brushing off her leather jacket, checking the damage he did.  
Sam looked befuddled, then it hit him. His long time childhood friend, a girl he thought was killed almost ten years ago, was standing there in front of him. "You're dead."  
"Yeeeeah, no."  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Your dad asked me to keep an eye on you... It's all one long story."  
"Well?"  
"You'll hear it sooner or later."

Sam wrapped his arms around his shorter, female friend. He felt tears rolling down his cheeks, as he rested his chin on her shoulder. Nothing was going to be the same now. Not ever. They needed to find their dad. Sam was as bullheaded as his father, and wouldn't stop until he found the thing that killed his girlfriend, and his mother. He knew his father must be closing in on the thing that did it. Maybe that's why Jess was killed?  
"I'm so sorry, Sam." The female brunette murmured, and reciprocated his hug. She'd been keeping an eye on him for four years, and could never tell him she was alive. If she did, that could have distracted from his normal life. He didn't need that. But now? There was no going back.

They heard firetrucks roaring, coming to put out the apartment fire. Emily stood by Sam's side, as Dean decided to go off and make sure everything and everyone else was ok.  
Emily didn't need to talk, she knew Sam probably didn't want to talk or listen to anything she, or anyone else, had to say right about now.  
After a few minutes of silence between the two of them, as the fire department was taking care of the fire and Sam was checking the inventory of their arsenal, Sam asked, "Are you coming with us?" He looked down at Emily.  
"Do you want me to?"  
"Yeah, definitely." He knew it would be better than her going off on her own, or having him stuck alone with Dean. He'd just gotten her back and he wasn't about to lose another woman in his life.

Dean drifted over to them as the fire was dying.  
Sam cocked a shotgun, and felt another tear fall down his face. Emily could feel the pain radiating from him, and couldn't help but feel pained herself.  
"We've got work to do." He said, and dropped the gun into the Impala's trunk, and slammed it shut.


	2. Wendigo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio heads out in search of John Winchester, starting at Blackwater Ridge.

"So, where are we headed?" Emily said, as she drifted off to her own car, her shiny red Mustang. She'd follow in tow, it wasn't like she could just leave her own baby behind. Yes, it wasn't the most practical car for being an inconspicuous hunter, but then again, neither was the 67' Impala next to her. Aside from the huge trunk that could hide a body and an arsenal.  
"Blackwater Ridge, Colorado." Sam said, no emotion in his voice at all, as he slipped into the passenger side of the Impala.  
"Colorado? You're sure?"  
"Dad left us a note with the coordinates in his journal." Dean said.  
"Is it like an SOS? I mean, I know being cryptic is a hunter's number one priority, but..."  
"Hey, I just go where the man leads me."  
"Alright, alright. Just text me coordinates, so I can plug it into my GPS." Dean opened his mouth to make a comment about how she should be working with a map instead, especially to conceal her location, but she was already in, and starting up her car. "I'll see you guys when we get there." She said, over her music, making Dean roll his eyes, and she pulled out from the parking lot of Sam's old apartment complex.

"She hasn't changed much." Sam said, pawing through their father's journal, already in the impala. It had been a good eight or nine years since he'd seen her last.  
"Nope. Not in the slightest." Dean plopped into the driver's seat, and got the engine going, "Her parent's 'd be pissed she's out hunting." He said as he pulled out onto the street.  
"I always remember them saying they didn't want her anywhere near the hunter's life. It was probably a mistake to have us over as often as they did.... Especially whenever Dad would pick us up drunk... Going to her house always did feel like we were part of a normal family.... Like the one Christmas we spent there... Dad was gone, for most of the day... They'd gotten us presents..." Sam's voice was quiet, their mom was gone, her parents were gone, and now Jess was gone. Any hope he had at a normal life was gone with them. "They were good people.... Does she know what killed them?"  
"No. Em says she has no idea. Bobby even looked into it too, but he couldn't be sure. It had the earmarks for a couple of things. It was probably something that sought them out. The worst thing, Bobby said, it coulda been just a human..."  
"Humans? Really?"  
"They were cops, they coulda pissed something or someone off."  
"Or something that wanted revenge for something her parents killed."  
"That's why Dad always said, it was never a good idea to stay in one place for too long. It puts a target on your back."  
"They were cops," Sam said, like his brother, "It's not like they could've picked up and moved every so often-Turn left here." Dean did as he was told. "Is that why Dad had Emily looking out for me?"  
"I don't know, probably, but I think it was his way to keep her away from really hunting." Dean said, "She was never really trained the way we were. Sure Dad taught her the basics and she's had some crash courses, but it's not really the same thing."  
"She's always been a quick learner. I bet she'd do fine with whatever came at her."  
"I still think Dad feels some responsibility for what happened. And when Emily wound up at Bobby's... I think Dad wanted to repay her parents for looking after us so often."  
Sam was quiet for a moment, "Does she know it could've been humans?"  
"No. And Bobby said not to tell her."

Nine hours. It took nine hours to get to Black Water Ridge, which was a small part of Lost Creek National Forest. Sam wasn't particularly chatty, not that Dean could blame him, even with his attempts at easing how his brother was feeling. Sam wasn't dealing with it, so he eventually drifted off to sleep, to just wake up covered in sweat from a nightmare.

The red Mustang was already waiting for them at the ranger's station when they got there, they had all assumed it was the best place to meet up and get some background info. The brunette girl, leaning against the car with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, tapped her black combat-boot against the gravel driveway. "Took you two long enough. I almost thought you weren't going to show up."  
"Now who would stand up a girl like you?" Dean mused, a smirk on his lips.  
"Shaddup." Emily rolled her eyes with a small smile on her lips.  
"How long were you waiting?" Sam asked, it couldn't have been that long.  
"Like a half a hour," A smirk appears onto her face, "Did you guys need potty breaks?" She said in a baby-voice.

"Ha-Ha, very funny." Dean said sarcastically and his expression turned from sarcastic to flirty in about a second. Sam almost immediately felt uncomfortable, like there was something going on between them that he didn't know about. The girl he'd known years ago was always so annoyed by Dean. If the older Winchester would tease the younger, Emily would help Sam stand up for himself. She wouldn't let Dean give Sam any shit.

But things change. Sam, himself, wasn't the small little kid he was. And here Emily was, more or less, letting Dean get away with comments that she never would have let slide when they were kids, but she still had a sharp tongue, and an apparent badass attitude. Sam still wanted to know what happened all those years ago. Why she'd disappeared for so long? And why was she back? One thing was for sure, she wasn't the little kid he had known years ago.

"This place looks pretty remote." Sam said, to change the subject.  
"Yeah," Emily agreed, "Whatever's happening out here must be happening to hikers or campers..." And they started their way into the ranger station.  
Sam and Emily went over to the 3D map of the area.  
"Here's Blackwater Ridge." Sam pointed out, "It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place."  
"Abandoned mines would be a great place for something to hide out." Emily said, slightly muffled as her knuckles pressed against her lips.  
"Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear." Of course Dean wasn't paying attention. Sam moved next to his brother, who was looking at a picture of a man and a bear.  
"And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure." Sam said.  
"Are we sure it isn't a bear that is bringing us out here?" Emily walked over to the two of them.  
"I'm pretty sure Dad would know if it was just bears."  
"Or like some mutated bear or like some possessed bear? I don't know. I just think we shouldn't count anything out as long as we don't know what's going on or what we're dealing with."  
"You kids aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" The three whipped around as a ranger, standing behind them, spoke.  
"Oh, no, sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Sam said, playing a fake student would apparently work for at least two of them, Dean he wasn't so sure about.  
"Recycle, man." Dean said, raising a fist for emphasis.  
"Bull."  
The young hunters froze.  
"You’re friends with that Hailey girl, right?" The ranger said.  
"Yes... Yes we are, Ranger..." Dean looked at his name tag, "Wilkinson."  
"Well I will tell you exactly what we told her: Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn’t be back from Blackwater till the 24th, so it’s not exactly a missing persons now is it?" Dean and Emily shook their heads, "You tell that girl to quit worrying, I’m sure her brothers just fine."  
"We will. Well that Hailey girl’s quit a pistol, huh?" Dean smirked, so Emily nudged him, and Sam made a mental note of that.  
"That's putting it mildly."  
"Actually, you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit, you know, so she could see her brothers return date?" Dean said.  
The ranger gave Dean a look for a split second, and shrugged, "Yeah, sure. No problem. Just give me a second."  
"Thanks." Sam and Emily said in unison.

It took about a minute for the ranger to get the papers. Then, the three were out the door and Dean chuckled happily at successful coning the ranger.  
"What are you cruising for a hook-up or something?" Sam said, slightly frustrated with his older brother's upbeat attitude and the fact he actually wanted to go find Haley, since the girl's address was on the papers her brother had filled out.  
Dean and Emily stopped, "Whadda ya mean?" Dean's playful mood was soured.  
"The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge. So what are we waiting for, let’s just go find dad. I mean why even talk to this girl?"  
"I dunno, maybe we should know what we’re walking in to before we actually walk into it."  
"What?"  
"And since when are you all shoot first ask questions later anyway?"  
"Since now."  
"Really?" Emily glared at the older Winchester as he spoke. Sam was still grieving, and Dean was being an idiot. "What?" Emily rolled her eyes at him, and slipped into her Mustang.  
"I'll see you both at her house."

Both cars arrived at the house at approximately the same time. "Very quaint." Emily muttered, letting the door to her car close behind her, and slipping her fake ID into the pocket of her leather jacket.  
"Yeah, if you like these kinda houses." Dean retorted as he stepped up to the door, with Sam and Emily right beside him. He knocked, and a young brunette answered the door. "You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam and Emily, we're, ah, we're rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy."  
"Lemme see some ID." She quipped, and Dean held up a fake ID. "Come on in."  
"Thanks." Dean smirked.  
"Are those yours?"  
"Yeah." Emily and Dean responded.  
"They're nice cars." Haley said as she turned to lead them in to the kitchen. Dean looked over to his younger brother and gave him a smirk, and mouthed "Oh my", he was so in. Sam and Emily both rolled their eyes.  
"So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" Sam asked Haley as they entered the kitchen. where a young boy sat at a table.  
"He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven't heard anything in over three days now."  
"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception?" Emily suggested.  
"He's got a satellite phone, too."  
"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?"  
"He wouldn't do that." The young boy said, but kept his eyes away from the trio.  
"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."  
"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asked.  
"Yeah," Haley said, and grabbed a laptop, starting to pull up picture of her missing brother. "That's Tommy." She pointed out, as a video came up on the screen.  
"Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow."  
Emily blinked. Was that a shadow? She looked to Sam, and he nodded. He saw it too.  
"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing."  
"Then maybe I'll see you there. Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."  
"I think I know how you feel." Dean agreed. And Emily gave him a look, he shouldn't be telling her it was a good idea for her, a civilian, to go out there.  
"Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asked.  
"Sure." Haley said.  
"Well, I think we've got everything for now." Emily said, and forced a smile. "We should let you guys eat."  
"OK. And thank for looking into this. I think the other ranger thought I was over reacting. But I do know when something's going on."

The three left the house, and stood around the cars for a moment. "What'sa matter, Em?" Dean tilted his head a bit.  
"Nothing." She was almost too quick with her response. "Let's just get moving."  
"Wanna go grab something to eat?"  
"Sure. Just text me where we're going."

The brothers got into the impala, and Emily got into her mustang.  
"Dude, you really pissed her off." Sam said with a small smirk on his lips.  
"What? Emily? Hah, she's fine."  
"If looks could kill, you'd be dead."  
"What I do?"  
"You were totally flirting with that Haley girl."  
"Why would she care?"  
"You're an idiot."  
Dean frowned.  
"Were you two, like, a thing?"  
"Us? No. No way."  
"She's obviously got a thing for you."  
"Yeah right." Dean snorted, "She has a thing for you. She's always had a thing for you."  
Sam's voice got quiet, but it was sort of hopeful. "Really?"  
"Yeah." Dean replied, "I mean, she and I got drunk one night and...." His voice trailed off and he let out a chuckle. "But nothing really happened. She doesn't want me like she wants you."  
"You two got drunk?"  
"Like two years ago. It was one of your exam weeks. And while you were up all night in the library studying, we held up in a motel and hung out." He said.  
Sam opened his mouth, then shut it. He took a moment before he said, "It's probably a good thing you two aren't going for each other then. She'd destroy you."  
"Whadda mean?"  
"I mean, come on. Would you ever be able to tame her?"  
"I tame girls like her all the time."  
"Girls who hunt?"  
"I've been with a few hunters. And at least Emily's sane... Unlike a few girls I've been with."  
"That's more than I needed to know." Sam mumbled. "Can we go?"  
"What? No more probing my sexual history?"  
"Just drive, Dean."

The three wound up at a local bar. Dean wanted a drink, while Sam and Emily wanted to go over some info.  
Sam and Dean got there first, and grabbed a table.

"Dude, I'm starving." Dean said, feeling his stomach growl.  
"You're always starving."  
And Emily quietly slipped in, and seated herself next to Sam, pulling out her phone. Obviously she was still a bit angry at Dean.  
"You hungry?" Dean asked, hopeful to get back on his female friend's good side.  
The female looked at him for a moment, then back down at her phone.  
"Looks like they have good burgers. You want somethin' Sam?"  
"I'm not really that hungry." Both Dean and Emily looked at each other then over to Sam, worriedly. He hadn't eaten much since they left Stanford. And a guy his size needed sustenance.  
"Sam.."  
"Don't baby me, Dean."  
And that was that.

"Anyways, any theories about what's goin' on? Or even what's we should expect?" Emily asked, and Sam pulled out John's enormous journal.  
"Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found." Sam opened his father's journal. "So, safe to say whatever is out there is doing something with the bodies. If it was just an attack, the bodies would've turned up by now."  
"Any before that?"  
Sam pulled out newspaper articles and showed them to the other two. "Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack." Sam got out his laptop, "And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936." He opened his laptop to the video of Haley's brother. "Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out." He played the video frame by frame, and suddenly a shadow crossed the screen.  
"Whoa."  
"Do it again." Dean said, and Sam played the video again.  
"That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move." Sam said.  
Dean hit Sam. "Told you something weird was going on."  
"Yeah." Sam agreed and closed his laptop. "I've got one more thing." He gave them another newspaper clipping. "In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive."  
"Is there a name?"  
"A Mr. Jeffery Shaw." Sam replied.  
"Does he live anywhere around here? I mean, generally, if something like that happens to your parents when you're a kid, it's traumatic, so you get the hell out of Dodge." Emily said, looking over Sam's shoulder as he started looking up Mr. Shaw's records. Sam looked back at her for a second after she spoke, but she kept her gaze on the laptop, then Sam looked to his older brother.  
Dean looked away from his brother, so Sam went back to typing.  
"Yeah, he's local.... Looks like he's not too far from here either."  
"So, let's go pay this guy a visit."  
"Dude, my burger..."  
"Get your burger." Sam said and looked to Emily, "Can we talk, maybe outside, for a minute?"  
"Yeah, sure." The taller male and the much shorter female then made their way outside.  
Once outside, Emily's features hardened slightly. "What?"  
"You okay?"  
"Peachy. Why?"  
"You seem a little... Tense.."  
"I'm fine."  
"Is this something to do with Dean?"  
"What?"  
"It's just, after we met with Haley..." He paused.  
" "After we met with Haley" what?"  
"You're lashing out."  
"I'm not lashing out." Her voice was quieter.  
"Look, if you have feelings for Dean-"  
She snorted, "One. I don't have feelings for Dean. Two. This has nothing to do with Dean-"  
"Then what does it have to do with?"  
"Nothing, because I'm fine." She pulled on her jacket, "We done here?"  
"Yeah, I guess." He said reluctantly. It wasn't like she was going to tell him anything anyways.  
"Good, then we have a case." Emily drifted over to her car, "I'll meet you guys at this Shaw guy's house. Text me the address."

Sam watched as his friend pulled away, and he rubbed his forehead. And he thought he was the one with issues right now.  
The younger Winchester begrudgingly went back into the bar to see his brother happily munching on a bacon cheeseburger. "Where's Em?" Dean asked with his mouth full.  
"She's on her way to see Jeffery Shaw."  
"Without us?"  
"She said she'd meet us there." Sam said, packing his things, "So either eat it, toss it, or get that to go, ok?"  
Dean whined, and quickly got a server to get him a box. "Thank God, this thing's delicious."  
Sam rolled his eyes, "You know those things will kill you, right? Especially when you eat nothing but garbage?"  
"So sue me. Let's roll." Dean chomped on a fry as he headed out to his prized impala.

A half an hour later, both the impala and the mustang were parked outside an old apartment complex. "It's 207." Sam said, as he saw Emily get out of her car. "You good?"  
"Fine. Let's go."  
"Dude, what'd you say to her?" Dean half-whispered, making sure Emily was out of earshot.  
"Me? Nothing."  
"Whatever you say." Dean said, as he began to follow Emily to the apartment.

Emily was the one who knocked on the door. It took a few moments, but soon there was an older man standing before them. "Can I help you three? I ain't buying nothing."  
"We're not here to sell anything, Mr. Shaw." Emily said, "We're rangers, from Lost Creek National Park, and we were wondering if we could ask you a few questions."  
"I ain't done nothing neither."  
"No sir, this is about an attack," Sam said, "From 1959."

Mr Shaw opened the door and let the three "rangers" in. "Look, rangers, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a—"  
"Grizzly? That's what attacked them?" Sam asked. Knowing that wasn't the truth. Not even close.  
Mr. Shaw took a puff of his cigarette, took it out of his mouth, and nodded. "The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?" Mr. Shaw paused.  
"What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Dean asked. Mr. Shaw paused again. "If we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it."  
He scoffed, "I seriously doubt that. Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make. You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did." There it was.  
"Mr. Shaw, what did you see?"  
Mr Shaw paused a third time. "Nothing. It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like...no man or animal I ever heard."  
"It came at night?"  
Mr. Shaw nodded.  
"It got inside your tent?"  
"It got inside our cabin." He corrected Sam. "I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming."  
"It killed them?"  
"Dragged them off into the night. Why it left me alive...been asking myself that ever since. Did leave me this, though." He pulled down the collar of his shirt to expose huge gashes. Emily eyed them, plenty of supernatural things had claws. She pursed her lips. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon."  
Not quite. All three of them thought. Demons wouldn't do something like this. Then again, demons weren't ones to exactly follow a rule book. But more than likely, not a demon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is still a WIP, keep an eye out for updates.


End file.
